like that?”
Naomi picks a string loose from her shirt, inhaling through her nose and averting her eyes before saying, “Phillip approached me the day before yesterday with a proposition. He said he wanted to surprise Talent at his office because he’s been in his own head lately. Apparently, Ridge & Sons is busier than they’ve ever been, and Phillip thought it would be a good idea if I helped Talent relax.”
“And you’re telling me, that didn’t sound suspicious to you?” Sharing a brief glance with me, Inez asks why this is the first time she’s heard this story. “Why did you tell me Talent contacted you himself?”
“I never said that, Inez. What I said was I had a date with Talent Ridge, and you assumed the rest.”
Anger rages inside of me so suddenly, I feel assaulted. Heat blasts through the palms of my hands and reddens my cheeks. My teeth clench, and if looks could kill, Naomi would be shredded to pieces. My entire life has been turned upside down in the last twenty-four hours because Naomi wanted to impress a boy with a yacht?
“That’s not how this works, Naomi,” Inez declares in a stone-cold tone. She’s the most powerful woman in the city, and it shows. The respect she demands is solid in her broad shoulders and black stare. How dare one of her subjects disobey her. How dare she be made to look like anything less than impenetrable.
Shrinking into herself, Naomi swallows her expression. “I know, but—”
Everything but pure ferocity is sucked from the room when Inez asks, “Do you think you can do my job better than me? Is that why you took matters into your own hands and jeopardized everything I’ve worked for? Is that why you’ve made me look like a fool? It’s clear to me that you have no inclination of the harm you could have done.”
Tears spring from Naomi’s eyes, and she shakes her head. “No. Not at all. Not ever.”
I half-expect Inez to leap from behind her desk to rip the girl’s tongue from her mouth, but greatness doesn’t resort to such barbaric measures to get her point across.
“Shut up,” she seethes. “You might think you have what it takes to sit in this chair, but someone who fucks strangers for a boat ride will never be disciplined enough to build an empire. You don’t have the guts. People like you spend their entire lives forfeiting their dignity for instant gratification. It takes sacrifice and self-control to get where I am. I suffered. I fought. I fucked shit up. You won’t be the one who defeats me, Naomi.”
Reduced to tears, Naomi swears that isn’t her intention. “When you suggested Cara take the date, I didn’t say anything because Talent didn’t know who to expect.”
“The problem isn’t that Talent didn’t know who to expect, Naomi,” I say, finally breaking my silence. “The problem is that he didn’t know about the arrangement at all. And you left us under the impression that he did. As far as I’m concerned, we look like assholes while you guys play on daddy’s yacht. You are playing with fire.”
“That wasn’t my intention.”
“No, your intention was to land Ridge & Sons and save the fucking day. Or to impress Phillip Vogel. All you did was put everything I’ve worked for at risk.” I turn my head to indicate the end of the conversation. It’s done. It’s over with. This week is going to be terrible, but I’ll get through it and pretend none of this happened. Then my life can go back to routine.
“Get out of my office.” Inez shoos Naomi away. Before she walks out the door, she says, “Don’t call me. I’ll call you.”
Translation: You’re fucking fired.
“You can march around like you own this place, but at the end of the day, you’re nothing more than another one of Inez’s whores just like me.”
I stop on the sidewalk outside Hush and roll my eyes at the sound of Naomi’s voice. She’s the type to lurk around somewhere she’s not welcome, but I’m not the type to entertain her temper tantrum. My plan was to catch a car home, but I’ll walk so I don’t have to wait with the trash.
“Don’t walk away from me,” Naomi says, quickening her pace to keep up. “There’s a lot about Inez that you don’t know. This won’t end well.”
“Go home before you get yourself into more trouble.” I place a pair of sunglasses over my eyes and keep my head down